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Saturday, 29 March 2014

Hi everyone - hope you're all doing well! I just wanted to give a quick update and share some general news with you. I've been super busy these last few weeks, doing a mountain of uni work, but I've got a bit of a break at the moment so I'm taking a couple of days to rest. And that means time for working on Sepia and Silver, hooray!

But anyway, I wanted to say that in a few days' time, my great friend Tammy Middleton (author of the Opposites Series under the name T.M. Smith) has been organising a special auction to benefit Autism Awareness next month. It will be going live in a few days for bids to start, but you can already have a look at a handful of the stuff that will be up for grabs by following this link:

Basically, a lot of authors have come together and donated stuff for the prize, including signed paperbacks and prints. From my corner, there's a Blindsighted Wanderer book thong, custom-made by the brilliant Crazy Creations. But this is a cause that means a lot to me and is really close to my heart, so I'm also debuting a prize that I've been thinking of doing for a while, but wanted to save for something like this. The winning bidder will receive a one-of-a-kind personalised digital portrait of themselves or someone they nominate, as an Asrae nymph from Blindsighted Wanderer, created and signed by me.

It would be amazing if you would please consider joining us and helping to raise some money for this wonderful cause. I'll be posting more links as I get them, so stay tuned if you're interested - and thank you SO MUCH in advance!!!

On a final note, I wanted to say that this year I will be taking part in VEDA - Vlog Every Day in April - on Youtube. I've never done anything like it before, but I think it could turn out to be fun! So I will be putting up my first video on 1st April and more will follow throughout the month. This is going to be interesting...

Monday, 3 March 2014

This was really tough for me to do - I find it hard enough to narrow down my favourite books, let alone my favourite characters! But I got around to thinking about characters which have really stuck with me through the years; that I think are absolutely brilliant and might have even influenced my own writing a bit. So after a lot of shuffling around, I've managed to get them down to my top 5, and here they are!

WOLF

The
Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver

Anybody who
knows me will know how much I adore this series. I never get tired of showering
it with praise. They are great books for both kids and adults that I don’t think
I will ever stop recommending. But the thing that, for me, turns it from a
brilliant story into an incredible story is Wolf. He begins as an orphaned cub that
becomes attached to Torak, the series’ protagonist, after both lose their
families on the same night. Despite a rocky start, the two quickly come to see
each other as pack-brothers, both always looking out for the other as they
journey through the Forest. They grow and mature together, and as time goes on,
their bond becomes even deeper, until each would gladly risk everything for
their brother.

In my
opinion, this is a perfect example of anthropomorphism done right. It’s guaranteed
that if you have an animal character in any story, you will need to give some
level of human characteristics to them so they can become relatable to the
reader. So some animals act somewhat like humans; talk like humans – or even if
they don’t actually talk, their POV language is still human-sounding. With
Wolf, you get none of that. There is never any doubt that when you are looking
through his eyes, he is a wolf. One
of the series’ greatest achievements for me is simply his descriptions of the
world as a simple adjective-ridden environment – pretty much how you would have
to try to make sense of it if you didn’t have any kind of verbal words. His
body language is used instead of speech, and it works. But there is also his
character: a perfect balance of playfulness, protectiveness, and loyalty that
anyone who has experience with dogs or wolves can instantly recognise as being true.

Michelle
Paver has managed to achieve something amazing with him in the most simple –
and arguably accurate – way that I’ve ever seen, and for that reason, Wolf will
always be my top animal character.

*

JANE EYRE

Jane
Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

I’ve always
been a big lover of classic literature, especially the ones that had a more
gothic twist to them. But the epitome of my love for this kind of Victorian fiction
is Jane Eyre, and that is basically
all down to Jane herself. The book is, in essence, a coming-of-age story: we
follow Jane as she grows from her abusive and loveless childhood into a young
woman, who takes the post of governess in the house of the domineering and
mysterious Mr Rochester. Going against many conventions, the two fall in love
and determine to marry, but when the secrets of Rochester’s dark past are
revealed, it jeopardises everything that Jane holds dear.

Even though
this does have a very strong romantic element to it, the book really is in a
class of its own. Like most of the 19th century literature that I
enjoy, it has a real darkness to it. But Jane is what sets it apart for me.
Bearing in mind that this was written in the mid 1800s, in hindsight, she is
quite a modern character. The fact that she’s a woman does play a role, because
obviously back then, women were seen as inferior to men. But Jane is not just a
modern woman, she is a modern character. Her morals are relevant to
both men and women. She has a steadfastness and ruggedness that isn’t really
seen all that often in books of this type. She’s not pretty, she has no finery,
but she does have a mind of her own and isn’t afraid to speak it. Yet even with
all that fire inside her, she knows how to keep a cool and calm exterior, and
is always respectful of her own values above any kind of temptation – even if
it’s clear she wants nothing more that to give in. The courage to be able to
move on from so much hurt is something that really spoke to me. It’s this
strength of will and heart which gives the entire book its power. Jane Eyre’s
character has endured for over 150 years now, and I expect she’ll still be
there in another 150.

*

VALERIAN

The
Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick

When I
thought about doing this list, Valerian was one of the first characters that
sprang to mind. He has to be one of the most intriguing antiheroes in the world
of children’s books, and I’m always a bit put out that the series isn’t more
well known. Valerian is a stage magician who has also dabbled in the occult,
culminating in him selling his soul with the promise that it will be taken from
him in fifteen years. When that time rolls around, he and his servant Boy embark
on a frantic search to find the Book of Dead Days: the only artefact which may
be able to save him.

Valerian is
what makes the book for me, and I was always hoping for some kind of prequel
story that would let him have even more ‘screen time’. His mysteriousness is
brilliantly offset by how quickly his mood can change: one moment he’s suave
and subdued, the next he’s shouting and smacking Boy around the ears. All in
all, he is not a nice character, but it’s so fascinating watching the way he
moves – especially as the story progresses and he grows more desperate, going
to ever-darker depths to achieve his salvation. He sort-of reminds me a little of
the character of Dorian Gray in a more kid-friendly way. It’s clear that his
descent into oblivion is inevitable, but the journey we get pulled into on the
way towards it is too engrossing to ignore. And despite everything, I always
found myself rooting for him in a strange way. Valerian is one character who
definitely deserves more attention – and, personally, I’ll always be wishing
for that prequel!

*

LYRA BELAQUA

His
Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

This trilogy
is one of the best known fantasy series of recent years, and in my opinion, it
is very deserving of all its praise. I have read these books more times than I
can count. And one of the main reasons why I like them so much is the main
character, Lyra. She is a half-wild adolescent girl who hails from another
world where souls exist outside of the body in the form of animals called
dæmons. When her best friend is kidnapped and taken to the North, Lyra
determines to find him, beginning a quest that takes her across worlds, and
eventually embroils her in a heavenly war.

What I love
most about Lyra is the fact that she behaves like how a child would in real
life. While I’m a fan of books that have a more fairytale-style aspect to them,
I admire how Philip Pullman has stayed away from giving Lyra a rose-tinted
glasses appearance. She is, in a sense, gritty: she is mischievous, impatient,
curious, and prides herself on her ability to lie convincingly. This last point
makes it somewhat ironic that she is the only one who can read the alethiometer:
a device that only tells the truth. And even though she enjoys spinning tall
tales, on some occasions it is this ability which saves her life. But for all
her shortcomings, she is also loyal, determined and loving, and learns many
life lessons as she undertakes her quest. She isn’t a bad kid; she’s just a
kid, and reacts to what goes on around her the way any kid would. She has a
sense of being very natural and it’s a joy to behold. The first time I read Northern Lights, I was Lyra’s age, and I
instantly connected with her because I never felt as though I was being
presented with a child character who I couldn’t believe. Like any kid, Lyra is
far from perfect – and that is exactly what makes her so perfect.

*

DEATH

The
Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This is one
of the easiest choices on this list for me. I wasn’t exactly sure what to
expect when I first picked up The Book
Thief, but I was hooked from the start and devoured it in a couple of days.
I was thrilled when I found out it was being made into a movie. I just hope
that, in the film, they get this character right. His name is a pretty obvious
giveaway to who he is. Death serves more as a narrator than a physical
character, telling of his time watching a girl named Liesel Meminger throughout
the Second World War. In the middle of Nazi Germany, her foster family take the
huge risk of sheltering a young Jewish man, while Liesel nurtures her love of
books, even going so far as to steal them from burning piles in the street.

To begin
with, I thought the idea of Death as a narrator, and especially during so dark
a period as the Second World War, was something pretty fresh. It would have
been so easy to make him a depressing and overbearing presence, with no
personality and basking in the fact that there is so much destruction around
him. But it actually turns out that he is quite the opposite: he is horrified
by how much pain mankind brings down upon itself. He is frank and somewhat
cynical, as you might expect from a Death persona, often interrupting the
narrative with bullet-pointed lists regarding something that has just happened,
or mentioning about how much he wishes for a break from his job. For such a
serious subject matter, I was chuckling to myself all the way through this
book, and that was all mainly down to this character. Like Neil Gaiman’s
similarly unique take on Death in the
Sandman comics, he makes us think twice about exactly how we view the end
of life, and the personification of it.